Australia Retail

Australia: Retail sales stagnate in April

June 4, 2015

Nominal retail sales recorded flat growth in April over the previous month in seasonally-adjusted terms, which was below the 0.2% increase recorded in March. The result was well below 0.4% increase that the markets had expected.

On a year-on-year basis, the pace of growth in retail sales fell from a 5.1% expansion in March to a 3.6% increase in April, which was the lowest reading in 19 months. Annual average growth in retail sales ticked down from March’s 5.1% to 4.9% in April.

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Australia Economic News

Seasonally-adjusted employment increased by 16,000 jobs in January compared to the prior month, down from the previous month’s revised increase of 33,500 (previously reported: +34,700) but still overshooting market analysts’ expectations for a 15,000 gain.

The business confidence index produced by the National Australia Bank (NAB) climbed to 12 points in January, the highest reading since April 2017, from December’s revised 10 points (previously reported: +11 points).